Suncor Energy’s plan to clean up tailings in some of its oil sands operations using water capping, also known as an end-pit lake, have hit a snag as the Alberta Energy Regulator rejected the proposal saying the firm’s plan lacked evidence the strategies would work.

The largest Canadian oil sands producer confirmed last week it has embarked on a one-year pilot project involving the use of six 400-tonne Komatsu autonomous haulers in an isolated part of Suncor's mine site in northern Alberta.

Under the terms of the agreement, Fort McKay First Nation will pay 34.3% of the actual capital cost of the East Tank Farm Development once the assets become operational, which is currently anticipated to be in the second quarter of 2017.

Companies responsible for the majority of fossil fuel products that have been manufactured, marketed, and sold since the industrial revolution and have contributed the lion’s share of cumulative global emissions of industrial CO2 and methane, have been ordered to respond to a legal petition that triggered the first-ever national human rights investigation concerning climate change.